TreeRM

Callery pear

Pyrus calleryana 路 Rosaceae 路 also Bradford pear, Ornamental pear

The ubiquitous white-flowering street tree of the 1980s and 1990s (30-50 feet), pyramidal with glossy leaves that turn purple-red in fall. Its flowers smell of rotting fish, its tight branch crotches split apart in wind and ice after 15-20 years, and the once-sterile Bradford now cross-pollinates with other cultivars to produce thorny wild seedlings that form dense thickets along roadsides and fields, including throughout Texas.

Broadleaf, drops leavesFast growingFull sunModerate water
Callery pear
Bruce Marlin, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Where it stands

Native

  • 馃嚚馃嚦 China 路 Native to China and Vietnam

Invasive

  • 馃嚭馃嚫 United States 路 Texas Invasives reports it present in 26 states and DCsource
  • 馃嚭馃嚫 NC, United States 路 Listed as invasive by the NC Invasive Plant Council (per NC State Extension Plant Toolbox)source
  • 馃嚭馃嚫 TX, United States 路 Listed in the Texas Invasives (texasinvasives.org) plant database. Widely planted, so found throughout the state; forms dense thickets once established. Not on the TDA noxious list.source

Care

Not recommended for new planting; several states have banned its sale. If you have one, expect limb failure and fire blight and plan a replacement. Remove wild seedlings (which carry thorns) by cutting and treating stumps, since cut trees resprout. Native alternatives with spring bloom include Mexican plum, Texas redbud and rusty blackhaw viburnum.

Benefits

FlowersFall color

Good for

Watch out for

Invasive elsewhereWeak woodThornsShort livedPest prone